Chuck vs All Good Things
by sdchuckfan
Summary: Chuck's life was going so well, until Fulcrum takes the offensive and changes the nature of the game. Does not fit into the timeline of my other stories.
1. Chapter 1: Farewell

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A/N: I don't own Chuck. Just a little warning, not happy like my other two fanfics. But it kind of works out in the end, hopefully. Enjoy.

* * *

_September 25, 2008_

Chuck walked out the front door towards the Buymore parking lot. He turned around and looked back at his two guardians, Agent Sarah Walker and Major John Casey. After that life-changing day when Bryce sent him the email packed with top level government secrets, these two were sent to make sure he lives and the data stays out of bad guys' hands. But now they were much more to him than bodyguards; they have become friends and maybe even family. Giving a quick wave goodbye, he continued to his nerd herder parked in the far corner of the lot, away from most of the other vehicles.

It's been a year since his world turned around. Suddenly, as he sat behind the wheel of the Yaris, he felt a need to take inventory of his life: who he met, what he did, where he's been. Of course Sarah is the first, and usually the last, thing that pops into his mind.

* * *

Ellie and Captain Awesome. Chuck thought back to their wedding in July. They had both decided to have it in San Diego at the Hotel Del Coronado, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was asked to be one of Awesome's groom's men after hearing that Ellie made Sarah one of her bride's maids. Awesome told him later "Seemed only right Chuck. I think you of as one of my brothers anyways. Besides, I didn't want you to be jealous throughout the whole wedding watching someone dance with Sarah." They both laughed.

The day of the wedding, Chuck found himself holding his breath when he saw Sarah walk out of their hotel bathroom in her bride's maids dress. _So beautiful_, he thought. Sarah had noticed all the attention she was getting from him and proceeded to spin herself around to give him a full view. He knew that she saw him looking and gave her a wink.

"Let's go Chuck. I think they're getting ready."

"Huh? Oh yeah" said Chuck as he broke out of his gaze.

Ellie and Devon's wedding went perfectly. They planned it so that their first kiss as husband and wife happened right when the sun set in the horizon. Chuck saw that even Sarah was teary eyed as she watched the couple embrace and kiss, backlit with reddish and purplish tones against the dark blue sky. He looked over and wondered what it would be like to see her face as the pronounced them man and wife. _Move on Chuck, move on._

* * *

Morgan. His best friend and honorary brother. Things have changed significantly for him over the past year as well. He now had a girlfriend, Anna. He started taking his work more seriously, saying that he was inspired by Chuck's increased responsibility for life and career. "I don't want to be left behind man. I gotta keep up with where you are in life."

Chuck smiled and knew Morgan's life would turn out better than he planned. "Don't worry buddy. I anticipate great things for you. Besides, I told Anna to beat you up if you get out of line."

They both laughed until Morgan realized that it could actually happen.

* * *

His career. After getting shot at several times during missions finally pushed Chuck to seize the day and finish things left undone. The first was college. He was a few credits shy of getting his degree, so he decided to take night classes to finally receive it. Of course he received nothing but support and praise from Sarah who was actually the one who kept bugging him about it.

He finally received his degree in computer engineering in February. Ellie held a large party at her apartment and was gushing throughout the night about her brother the graduate. Several times throughout the night he had to explain that he was still feeling out the job market and had several resumes out there already.

Chuck thought of the best part of the evening. It was when Sarah pulled him aside and handed him a box. "This is for you Chuck."

"You didn't need to get me anything." Chuck gave her a big smile. "I should actually be giving you something. It was you who kept pushing me to go back to school you know."

"I know. All I did was get you to go, you're the one who actually went to the classes and aced them. Now open it up."

Chuck smiled and opened up the box which revealed a titanium watch. She motioned for him to flip it over. He saw an inscription: _To CB, The world's most knowledgeable man_. _Love, SW_

"I just thought that the last watch I gave you wasn't really a gift. This one is really from me. I hope you like it."

"I love it. Thank you Sarah."

* * *

Casey. What could Chuck say about Casey? On the outside, he seemed like a robot: following orders to the letter, always quoting protocol. But that all changed when the termination order went out on him.

Just when he thought he was good as dead, Casey refused the order. He would later say that the world has too few truly good guys in it and that by killing Chuck he would be tipping the balances to the wrong side. Luckily for both of them the beta intersect proved to be a bust and his safety and well being was once again paramount.

When it came down to the situation with he and Sarah, Casey turned a blind eye. He never mentioned anything about the affection he saw emanating from the two of them except for one time. Out of the blue when they were leaving an early morning briefing, he just blurted "Just keep doing the missions as well as you do and I won't say anything." He kept walking out and didn't wait for any response.

* * *

Sarah, finally Sarah. Was it providence that had guided Sarah to him? What else could it be? Chuck thought and imagined if any other woman were sent to him, would he have fallen in love at first sight with them too? Could it have been any other blond hair and blue eyed woman? Was he so desperate for love at that point that anyone would've sufficed? Laughing and shaking his head, Chuck knew the answer.

No. No one else could've taken her place. It had to be Sarah and only Sarah.

Chuck thought about their relationship. The thing under the undercover thing. After the termination notice Sarah had finally broken down and asked him out on their official real first date, not that they weren't flirting with each other every chance they got before that. He figured that she also decided to live for the moment since they wouldn't know what be coming around the bend. Their relationship was blossoming slowly, which Chuck assumed was due to the fact that Sarah hadn't had a real relationship before.

First it was holding hands, something simple but meant the world to both of them. Although they had held hands before, this time it was for real. There was more significance to the gesture and Chuck could see that Sarah knew it too. They spent the whole day walking around the beach holding hands; enjoying the closeness it afforded.

They had their first kiss (and more) after Sarah's birthday party. Well not a real birthday party but a made up one that he insisted on. He had asked her what her favorite number was between 1 and 31. Sarah said 15. So just like that, Sarah's birthday was June 15. They held a big party, of course, and Chuck went out of his way to keep her laughing the whole night through. The birthday cake came out with two candles lit with her age, 27. Her supposed age of course, Chuck didn't really know her age so he later told her he had to guess by looking at her. She just hugged him and thanked him for the compliment. She didn't mention she was actually a year older than him of course.

As the night ended he took her back to her hotel room, Sarah hugged Chuck and said "Here's your present Chuck."

Chuck, looking confused, asked "What presen..."

Before he could complete the sentence, Sarah pulled his head down by his collar and gave him a kiss. Chuck didn't know how many seconds, minutes, or weeks passed nor did he care. It wasn't the end of the world, bomb about to blow up kind of kiss but it did convey the same emotions and intent as before.

"That was my way of thanking you for a great time tonight." Pausing momentarily, "Now this is my way of thanking you for everything else" said Sarah as she pulled him into the room and quickly closed the door.

Chuck laughed to himself as he thought about the other stuff after kissing. _Not going to forget that part._

* * *

The Intersect. The reason for all the changes in his life. He was both mad and glad that it came into his life. Mad because of the constant fear of torture and death. But glad because it brought Sarah into his life.

Chuck was made a special agent and the team was sent out on mission as always. One caveat was that he had to check into a CIA facility every two weeks to receive an update to the data in the Intersect. This luckily took no time at all since it was just an addition to the info already stored in his head.

Together they had way more successes than failures and even in failure they found a way to extract some good from it. The higher ups were in constant awe of the effectiveness of the team and never had anything but praise for them. The one thing that was a thorn in their side was Fulcrum.

Although team Chuck was able to thwart most of their advances, the organization seemed to grow stronger and larger by each passing moment. They still did not know where the Intersect was or who it was but they knew it had something to do with Chuck. Many of the recent Fulcrum operations had centered on the Los Angeles area and more specifically where Chuck lived.

Chuck received an update a week ago. One of the technicians informed Sarah that there was a slight glitch but everything was ok with him. Sarah was extremely concerned until he waved her off and told her he felt fine. Later in the week, Chuck received his latest flash on Fulcrum. They were planning a search and destroy mission. He gasped.

* * *

Back to reality, Chuck looked back towards to give them one last goodbye but found his line of sight blocked by rows of cars. He sighed.

A grim look appeared on his face as he put the key into the ignition. Chuck slammed his eyes shut and shook his head as if trying to build up the strength to continue.

Finally he whispered to himself, "Sorry Sarah, all good things must come to an..." He turned the key in the ignition.

An explosion rang out in the plaza. The shockwave caused the windows of nearby cars to shatter. Car alarms were set off throughout the parking lot. Pieces of debris rained down from the heavens. A fireball reached up into the sky before smoke started billowing out.

Sarah and Casey turned and felt the intensity of the heat coming from the blast. Sarah ran towards the fire, knowing already what had exploded. It was the nerd herder and its occupant, Chuck. She screamed "No! Chuck! No!"

Casey tackled her halfway to the car and shouted at her "Walker. Stop. There's nothing we can do."

Sarah was screaming with tears flowing down her face. She was clawing at Casey, hitting him with all her might to let her go and find Chuck. "He's in there Casey, I need to find him and help him. Let me go to him." She continued to beg and plead, all the while wiping the gushes of tears on her face.

"Sarah, he's gone. No one could've survived that. No one."

She looked up to see that Casey's eyes were tearing as well. She finally stopped and sat there in the parking lot, sobbing and weeping at the sight of the fireball where Chuck once was. For hours all she could say was "Chuck."

Charles Irving Bartowski was laid to rest on October 2, 2008. No body was ever found but no one thought that there would be one considering the intensity of the heat from the blast. Even the frame of the car had melted. All that was left to suggest that someone was in the car was little spatterings of blood on pieces of the car interior that had been blown far from the fire. The CIA identified it as Chuck's DNA. The police called it an accident; a natural gas leak under the vehicle had ignited and caused the explosion. At least the NSA told them as such. It was accepted since earlier the NSA blamed the evacuation of the Buymore on Thanksgiving on a similar gas leak.

Unofficially theCIA and NSA surmised that the explosion was an assassination committed by Fulcrum. They had known that Chuck was somehow in the center of the Intersect project but didn't know in what capacity. Fulcrum needed to eliminate the government's advantage in order to continue operating under the radar and in eliminating Chuck, they secured their anonymity.

The funeral itself was a quiet affair, involving only his closest friends and family. Sarah had stayed with Ellie and Devon for two weeks. Ellie instinctively knew that Sarah was hurting as much as she was, maybe even more. They spent their time talking about the good memories they had with him and how much he meant to both of them. Sometimes, Casey would show up and totally out of character, would chime in about the good times as well.

Morgan took it the worse. He was inconsolable for three days. He didn't bother eating or drinking during that time. He finally broke out of it when Sarah told him that Chuck would've been hurt to see him like this. Chuck wanted him to live a good life. Morgan thanked Sarah and told everyone that he promised to live his life how Chuck wished for it to be for him. Sarah smiled and thought _Even in death you still help people_.

Sarah and Casey were eventually reassigned; the higher ups had given them time to get over the loss but things still happened around the world. Casey was stationed somewhere in the midwest while Sarah was back in Washington D.C.

Even though she moved away, Sarah never broke contact with Ellie. As they were about to part ways in the airport, Ellie told Sarah that she considered her as her bestfriend, her sister. Sarah's eyes teared up and all she came up with was "Thank you." Every month, as her missions permitted, she would call Ellie and ask how she was doing. They would chit chat for a while and then say their goodbyes.

Another thing changed for Sarah, she no longer took missions that involved being close to a mark. It wasn't that she was shielding her heart from emotions but she felt that it would stain her memory of Chuck if she got close to anyone again. Luckily the agency was happy to oblige since there were more missions other than that available.

Sarah stood in her apartment looking at the last photo she and Chuck took together and realized that he would be the only one for her.

A lone black figure spied on Sarah from the rooftop of an adjacent building. He stood in silence as if deep in thought and then quickly disappeared into the night. _Time to get to work. Time to payback Fulcrum for what they took. _He logged onto to his computer after he stepped into his car.

His password: _It's hard to say goodbye._


	2. Chapter 2: Retaliation

_A/N: Ok, here's the next section. Once again thanks to everyone who left a review._

-Thursday, December 11, 2008 8:57pm Langley, Virginia-

_Mission 1: Target is Agent Michael Rivers of the CIA. No wife, no children. Currently on vacation after a 3 month assignment in __Moscow, Russia__. Eats dinner every night at 7pm. Watches __ESPN__ for an hour in the living room. Finishes the night in his study at a desk next to the north side window. Reads the newspaper before going to sleep. The __Virginia Railway Express__ should arrive in 10 minutes. _

The business end of a McMillan Tac-50 sniper rifle slowly appeared out of the bushes on a mountain side. On the other end of the rifle lay a man dressed in a ghillie suit, perfectly camouflaged with pieces of the surrounding shrubbery. Following lessons learned from his training, he had stayed in that position for the last three days, observing his target and learning his habits. In his world information is life, or death in this matter. Now, from what he observed from Rivers, he chose the best spot and time to take him out.

At 9:07pm the train traveled down the rail directly below the sniper. A few seconds later a single shot from the sniper rifle was fired but unheard due to the noise of the passing train. The bullet looked to be heading in the wrong direction at first but had now reached its apex and was arcing down towards its intended target within Rivers' library. It passed effortlessly through the window and before the shards of glass hit the ground, it went through the back of the black leather desk chair. Michael Rivers was shot through the back and now was laying face down on his desk, dead without even knowing it.

* * *

-Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:06pm New York, New York-

_Mission 4: Target is Agent John Rogan of the CIA. Currently undercover in as an executive in a foreign business trying to find ties between it and an international terrorist group. Sorry but your association to Fulcrum outweighs your work for the greater good. Should be leaving work in 5 minutes and head towards his car, a white Mercedes Benz C300, parked in level 4. That should be as good as time as any._

As Rogan left the elevator on his way to his car parked in the far corner of the garage, a dark figure appeared from the shadows. Once again, his training took over which at this point became more like instinct. It had taught him how not to be seen; where to hide, how to follow the target without them noticing, how to blend into the background. In essence, how to be a ghost.

The impressive abilities of the unknown man showed; despite his training in the CIA, Rogan did not notice the figure stalking him down the corridor and was slowly catching up to him. The man stepped silently, steering clear of Rogan's peripheral vision and making sure of the locations of the light sources as to not cast a shadow. Then, in one quick motion, Rogan's throat was cut and he was left sprawled out on the garage floor to bleed out.

* * *

-Sunday, March 15, 2009 4:04pm San Diego, California-

_Mission 9: Target is CIA analyst Jason Bremer. Currently working out of the San Diego office. Has fairly high security clearance which he has been using to leak information about future agency operations against Fulcrum. His involvement has cost the CIA dozens good agents who were ambushed by the rogue organization. Likes taking motorcycle rides up to Julian, deep in the Cuyamaca Mountains. This should be fairly easy._

Bremer walked out of his home in La Jolla, California. It was time for his weekly bike ride up to the city of Julian. He had always loved the ride up there and usually stopped to watch the sunset.

As he drove down the windy trail coming down the mountain, he didn't seem to notice a black Ford Mustang following him. The next part of the road was especially tricky, consisting of severe turns and s-curves. For less experienced riders it would be scary, but Bremer had rode down this same road many times before and actually enjoyed it. Unfortunately this would be the last time he enjoyed it, or anything for that matter.

The man in the Mustang pressed a little red button on a radio remote. Unknown to Bremer, the remote triggered a device which cut the brake lines to his bike. As he came up fast to the next s-curve, he squeezed the brakes but felt no slowing. Now alarmed, he squeezed harder and still no slowing. Bremer never had the chance to try the brake again as his motorcycle slammed hard onto the guard rail and sent him flying over the barricade and into the deep canyon below.

The Mustang paused for a second at the scene of the accident before speeding off.

* * *

-Sunday, August 23, 2009 3:05am Austin, Texas-

_Mission 27: Target is CIA agents Melissa Silver and Jeremy Walters, as well as a corrupt __NSA__ agent. All currently inbetween missions. Silver and Walters are partners, recently finishing a 3 month operation in __Pakistan__. Tsk tsk, here I thought that the CIA and the NSA don't like playing nice. Must be getting paranoid as well; meeting the other half of the Fulcrum command structure by teleconference? Are you guys afraid that I'll take all of you out at once? You should be._

Three monitors lit up the empty warehouse with faces of additional Fulcrum members; each at a different location within the city.

Silver stepped forward and asked "Is this necessary? I understand the need for safety but having each of us in different locations is quite excessive I believe."

Unbeknownst to them, the assassin was already in the warehouse and was observing them from afar. He had known of this clandestine meeting for a while and unfortunately for them, came prepared for this exact scenario.

"For now, this is how we'll do things. Who ever the CIA has sent knows who we are, where we live, even our cover stories. Until we eliminate this threat we must take all precautions" the voice said from one of the monitors. "So do we know how they are getting their intel?"

Walters spoke up, "We're unsure sir. The attacker had inside knowledge like you said but with the Intersect out of the picture, it's has to be a mole within Fulcrum."

"Are we sure that the Intersect has been taken care of? Do they have a back up one available?"

"Yes according to our contact near Director Graham's office, the assassination of Special Agent Charles Bartowski had completely rendered the Intersect useless. We are still unsure to what capacity Bartowski was involved with the project, but its safe to assume his elimination also removed the threat of the Intersect. Also the attempts for a beta Intersect proved futile. According to reports, they weren't able to achieve the level of results as with the first machine."

"I see, so that just leaves a mole within the organi..."

Before the sentence was finished, Silver and the others heard an explosion in the background of the monitor before noise filled the screen. In sequence, explosions were heard in the other two monitors before they lost signal as well.

Silver ran forward, screaming "What the hell is going on? How could he have gotten all three of them?"

"I don't know, I don't know. We need to get out of here now and reorganize."

Just then a masked man ran into the warehouse from the shadows. Before the agents could react he fired three shots, all hitting their intended targets. Silver, Walters, and the NSA agent fell to the ground each shot through the head. The assailant stood over the bodies and dropped a piece of paper.

* * *

It's now been almost a year since Chuck's death. Life has moved on and, reluctantly, Sarah has moved on too, career-wise that is. A few months ago Sarah was reassigned as assistant director under Graham. He felt it was necessary to have someone he trusted near him since anyone in the organization could be Fulcrum.

For Sarah it was bittersweet; it was nice to be able to visit her family in Los Angeles on a regular basis but she also missed the action and the thrill of the fight. She was now a desk jockey, coordinating missions and deciding which leads to follow through on.

One benefit of her new position was that higher security clearance; she was now able to view all files on Fulcrum and the agency's plans against them. She sat at her desk and closed the doors and shut the blinds in order to have complete privacy. Sarah sat down in her leather executive chair and brought the files over.

She opened the file FULCRUM and on top was a sheet of paper suspecting their involvement in Charles Bartowski's death. Sarah turned her head away and skipped all those pages, not wanting to relieve the day the love of her life was taken from her.

Sarah reached some files involving actions against the rogue organization. First occurred December of last year where Agent Michael Rivers was killed by a sniper while at his desk at home. CIA forensics lab traced back the shot to a bush on a mountainside, almost 1.7 miles away. Sarah was surprised; she knew that a shot from that distance was extremely difficult. Even the military trained snipers have trouble past a mile. The person who took the shot must've been extremely well trained. The paper also showed that the sniper left some evidence at the scene: the bullet casing with no fingerprints of course and a piece of paper with one word typed onto it. 'Fulcrum' it read.

Next Sarah saw Rivers' personal file. The CIA did some digging and found that he was involved in recruiting newly sworn in agents into Fulcrum. Most knew what they were getting into; but some thought they were part of a government sanctioned secret organization. Sarah read on through the other documents which showed the assassination of agents connected to Rivers, who they suspected where part of his Fulcrum team. The assassin was not only cutting off the head, they were also cutting the legs out of the rogue group.

As Sarah read on, she saw other Fulcrum agents were being taken out as well and not low level grunts either. These were high level, decision making members who thought they had anonymity. Whoever it was that was taking Fulcrum head on now had them running scared. The report showed that the assassin attacked them in their homes, at work, and even at supposed secret meetings. They were now disorganized and on the defensive, no longer able to execute smooth running missions like before and were now looking to be slightly paranoid.

What intrigued her most was the fact that some of those who were killed were not known to be Fulcrum at the time, the link was only found after their deaths. This meant the person had to know inside information on the group. With Chuck and the information of the Intersect now gone, there was only one person who would know the inner workings of Fulcrum. _Bryce Larkin_.

Sarah deduced that Bryce must have broken orders for recon only and decided to take out the group himself. She looked out into nowhere and thought, _Is this your way of atoning for bringing Chuck into our world, Bryce? Do you feel guilt for sending that email? Are you now taking revenge against those who took your one and only best friend away? _

Sarah shook her head and hoped he would be ok; although she didn't love him anymore she did know that Chuck still cared for him. He still worried if he was alive and if he would ever regain some sort of normalcy in his life. When Sarah first heard Chuck say that, she laughed and knew only Chuck would be able to forgive someone that easily.

_Give them hell, Bryce._

Sarah looked up at the clock and realized that she had a red-eye flight from D.C. to Los Angeles later. Tomorrow would be the first anniversary of Chuck's death and nothing would keep her from her surrogate family.


	3. Chapter 3: Family

_A/N: Short chapter but I hope it works._

Sarah walked up the familiar steps to the apartment, passing by Casey's old place and the fountain where she and Chuck spent hours on just talking. Sarah looked around the scenery and remembered the anxiety she felt before whenever she walked over to Chuck's window, only for the anxiety to turn into happiness as he opened it for her. In the beginning she felt like an outsider trying to break into a tight knit team. But to her surprise, they instead they treated her as one of their own, as family and she never felt out of place after that.

She walked up to the door and knocked twice. "Oh my gosh. Sarah!" Ellie screamed as she embraced the slightly shocked blond woman.

"Hey Ellie, long time no see. Hey Devon" said Sarah as she hugged back.

Devon was behind Ellie, trying to wave over the head of his wife who was still locked in a hug with Sarah. "Hey Sarah, just in time for breakfast. Morgan and Anna are already here." Looking to his wife, "Hey babe, maybe you could ease off a bit there. Sarah might want to actually feel her legs for the rest of the day."

"Give me a break; I haven't seen her in a while" Ellie said laughing.

"It's alright, I'm not complaining" smiled Sarah.

"Well come in, come in. We're going to eat soon."

Sarah sighed as she closed the door behind her and joined her family for a meal. She lamented the fact that she didn't tell Chuck more about her family history, or lack of one. Sarah's parents had split up when she was young and was placed into state custody where she bounced from one orphanage to another. As soon as she turned 21, she joined the CIA. She never really had a family of her own until Chuck opened up his to her and now she couldn't even fathom what life would be like without them.

Sarah broke out of her train of thought when she heard shouting coming from the kitchen. "Hey slowpoke! Get over here, we're hungry."

Sarah laughed and rushed over. "Sorry, feeling a bit nostalgic."

* * *

Walking through a dimly lit path, Sarah found what she was looking for: the grave of Charles Irving Bartowski. She cleaned up the area a bit, removing the old flowers placed for him and brushing away fallen leaves. She placed a vase of tulips; it became her favorite flower since Chuck had always come over with a bouquet of them in hand.

Sarah carefully knelt down on the soft grass facing the headstone. After quietly kneeling for a few moments in silence, she finally spoke up. "Hey Chuck. I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you for a while; I've been busy at work."

Looking up at his name, Sarah continued. "You would've been proud of me. I've been promoted and although I don't get to travel the world as much, I am able to visit Ellie and everyone else anytime I want. I know that's what you would've wanted, me being part of your family. I only wish that you were here to share it with me and see how I've changed for the better."

Sarah stopped for a few minutes as tears formed in her eyes. Taking out a handkerchief, Sarah carefully wiped away the moisture. "I miss you Chuck" she stuttered. "I know you would want me to move on, but I can't do that. Everyday I remember something great about you and every night I have to put on one of your old shirts to help me fall asleep. It's strange actually, if you had asked me three years ago if I would be this broken up about the loss of an asset, I would've laughed. But something about you broke down all the defenses I set up to keep these kind of feelings out. Now I find I can't live without them. So please forgive me, I can't let you go just yet."

The sound of a twig snapping was enough for Sarah to pull out her gun from the inside of her jacket and turn to face the two intruders. They quickly raised their hands and shouted "Don't shoot, it's us."

Sarah quickly recognized the voices, "Casey, Carina? What are you doing here?"

Casey spoke first, "Same as you Walker. Paying respects to a fallen comrade."

"And you Carina? You met Chuck only once."

"That might be true Sarah. But when he became important to you is when he became important to me as well. Can't I support a friend?"

"Sorry. Yeah, I'd appreciate it." Sarah went over and gave her a hug before turning her attention to Casey. "I didn't think you were the sentimental type."

Without breaking his gaze at the tombstone, Casey replied "Looks can be deceiving. Besides, Bartowski had a way of getting under your..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Casey collapsed to the ground. Sarah drew her gun and turned when she and Carina were both hit by darts in the neck, incapacitating them.

Several men stepped out of the woods surrounding the cemetery. "Take them. We'll get one of them to tell us who they have hunting us down."


	4. Chapter 4: Final

_A/N: Here we go, closer to the end. Enjoy._

Sarah awoke to what she thought were the sounds of a boxing gym; fists hitting a heavy bag, air escaping from a person's mouth after taking a punch, grunts and whimpers caused by pain

Sarah awoke to what she thought were the sounds of a boxing gym; fists hitting a heavy bag, air escaping from a person's mouth after taking a punch, grunts and whimpers caused by pain. She shook her head and opened her eyes to see that she was handcuffed to pipes crossing the ceiling at the far end of a large warehouse. To her left was Carina who was just waking up as well and was similarly detained. She scanned the room again and saw nothing but empty boxes and metal cabinets filling the building.

Hearing the unmistakable sound of another punch to the stomach, Sarah turned to her right and saw Casey surrounded by 3 men who were taking turns working him over. Casey was in extremely bad shape: his eyes were swollen and blood was dripping from his mouth. It looked like they were beating on him for the last hour and now he was not even conscious. The only thing that kept him up was the fact that he was handcuffed as well to the ceiling. Sarah knew was that Casey wouldn't be able to leave here under his own power.

One of the men turned to Sarah and Carina. "Glad to see your both awake Assistant Director Sarah Walker and DEA Agent Carina Anderson. Major Casey here wasn't really cooperating and I doubt he will now; maybe one of you will be of more assistance to us." Adjusting his suit and standing a bit straighter he continued, "We'd like to know the location and a way to contact the agent sent out against Fulcrum members."

Sarah looked over to the agent, "Well you have us at a disadvantage, you know our names but we don't know yours."

"Agent William Simms."

Smirking, Sarah continued "Well Billie, you know as well as we do that threat of torture doesn't work that well with us."

"True, true. But it doesn't hurt to try and ask though. How about you Miss Anderson, care to cooperate?"

Carina pursed her lips, "Let me think, nope don't think so."

Sarah asked "What makes you think we know who the agent is anyways? It's not company policy to go around sharing operation secrets over lunch."

Simms walked over to her. "But this is a special case. You three know this agent quite well actually." He paused to look over at Casey, who was slumping over.

"Well, are you going to tell us? Or is the suspense part of the torture technique?" Carina shot back.

"We want to know the location of Bryce Larkin."

"Bryce? You know he's dead right?" laughed Carina.

"Not quite Miss Anderson. He's very much alive and apparently decided to take to the offensive." Simms stepped up to Sarah, "So Miss Walker, care to tell me where your lover is?"

"Former lover and I don't know. I'm just as surprised as she is that Bryce is alive."

"Well no matter, I guess we'll just have to wait it out and lure Larkin over here as soon as he finds out we have his girlfriend and associates."

"Ex-girlfriend" shouted Sarah.

"Well when you EX-boyfriend gets here, he'll be greeted by the remaining portion of the Fulcrum command group. You see he's been targeting us basically a few at a time, no more than four. This time he'll be welcomed by no less than 23 Fulcrum agents who are ready for him."

"Let's say Bryce Larkin is still alive. What makes you think he'll come rescue us? To him and any field agent, our deaths would be for the greater good" said Sarah smugly.

"That would be true, but Larkin hasn't been playing by the field agent's handbook for the past year has he? We know that you two especially mean something to him" pointing to Sarah and Casey.

"And how do you know that?"

"Well he has managed to thwart all Fulcrum attempts to eliminate you and Major Casey so far. Why should he stop now? Seems like you guys have a guardian angel."

Sarah could not contain the look of shock on her face. She knew Bryce and he wouldn't hesitate sacrificing someone in order to complete the mission. But why was he protecting them? Was it because he thought he owed Chuck?

"So let's just hang out for a while until our mutual friend shows up."

* * *

Hours later, Simms was pacing back and forth in the warehouse. Bryce still had yet to show up and he was beginning to doubt whether he would. "Looks like your boyfriend doesn't keep his appointments" Simms said to Sarah.

"Ex-boyfriend" Sarah fumed.

"I don't see the importance."

"Well, I do."

"Wait, I remember your file now. You had a thing for that Bartowski guy. The analyst who got blown up last year. Heard it was quite the fireworks show. Not much loss there, heard he wasn't that much of an agent anyways."

Sarah felt the anger well up inside of her. "Say that again and I swear I'll tear your tongue out!" she screamed as she pulled against her handcuffs.

"Whoa there missy, I see I hit a nerve. So there is a crack in Agent Walker's supposedly impenetrable shield."

Sarah's glare threatened to burn a whole straight through Simms.

"Why the sad face Walker?" Simms walked over and grabbed her by the chin. "Has anyone told you that you're much prettier with a smile?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swiss army knife. "Let's see if I can help you turn that frown upside down."

Sarah struggled to remove her face from the grasp of her captor. Simms brought the knife close to her face and remarked "Don't worry; I'll make sure there's some part of you that's still recognizable to Larkin."

As Simms prepared to plunge the blade into Sarah's face, a shot rang out through the building. Simms instantly fell to one knee, dropping the knife, and looked down to see that he was shot mid-thigh. Another two quick bursts and the 2 Fulcrum agents next to Casey were instantly taken out with shots to the chest.

Sarah and Carina both looked over to their left; there they saw a man dressed in tactical gear with a submachine gun butted up against his shoulder and head cocked to the right as he looked down the gun sight. They struggled to see who it was but the man was wearing a ski mask and goggle, preventing the identification of their savior.

Simms had quickly run for cover and was shouting "Larkin's here. Take him out now!"

But before they could fire off a shot the lights within the building all shut off, leaving everyone in virtual darkness.

Simms laughed, "Nice try. But just like you we came prepared." He pulled out his night vision goggles and quickly put them on. "You're not the only one who can see in the dark Larkin."

The unknown rescuer rushed up to both Sarah and Carina and said "Close your eyes now!"

Sarah struggled to identify the voice but couldn't recognize the voice; either he was naturally changing it or had some artificial help.

As she closed her eyes, she heard what sounded like a metal pin dropping and the sound of a metal canister hitting the floor a few seconds later. _Grenade? In here?_

A few seconds later she saw an intense white light flash come through her eyelids followed by an intense loud blast. Sarah heard screaming coming from the Fulcrum agents and realized that they had witnessed the intensity of the white flash through their night vision goggles. If these grenades temporarily blind people normally, its effectiveness multiplies against people using light enhancing night vision goggles.

The man unlocked Carina and then Sarah from their handcuffs before turning towards Casey who was still out of commission. Just as he got Casey down, bullets started whizzing passed them. The agents were still clearly affected by the grenade but their shots were still close to their intended targets.

The rescuer dragged Casey to where Sarah and Carina were hiding behind a metal cabinet and tossed him over to the two ladies, just in time to take out two attackers who rushed around the corner to ambush them.

As bullets continued to bounce off the metal container, the rescuer handed both women handguns which were strapped to his back. "Take Casey and go out the southwest exit, I've sealed off all other egresses. I parked a blacked out Mazda sedan behind the next building. Take it and drive south towards San Diego. I'll get in contact with you then" the man said. He quickly stood up and let out some quick bursts from his weapon, hitting a couple of the attackers. "Go, now!"

Shock then anger appeared on Sarah's face. "There's no way we're leaving you here, Bryce. The numbers are overwhelming, you have no chance. Let us help."

The rescuer squatted back down after unleashing some more rounds from his weapon and turned his head towards Sarah. "I did not come all this way and sacrifice so much just to have you guys die now. I have things under control, TRUST ME."

Sarah looked into his goggles and relented, "Fine, just watch your back."

"It's what I'm good at." He quickly fired off several rounds.

"Where will you be?"

"I need to clean things up here and make sure no one leaves the building alive. I'll catch up to you soon."

Sarah nodded and said "Good luck." Turning towards Carina, she asked,"Can you help with Casey?"

Carina nodded as well. Turning to their savior, Carina whispered "Thanks, Bryce." The man looked at her for a moment and then turned towards the attackers.

They each aided in moving Casey; Sarah was under his right arm and Carina under the left. They quickly made their way from shelter to shelter, taking out random Fulcrum agents who unluckily got in their way. As they stood at the exit, Sarah let Carina take Casey outside and turned around to see what was happening.

Sarah turned and saw him standing behind one of the pillars supporting the second floor of the warehouse. Judging from the amount of dust and debris flying around him, she knew most of the attackers were focused on eliminating him. _Get out of there Bryce, hurry._

The lone gunman saw that Sarah, Carina, and Casey were safely outside of the building and knew that he needed to make his exit. He quickly stepped out into the line of fire and proceeded to empty his clip towards the attackers in front of him, hoping to force them back behind their shelters.

Just as he proceeded to reload his weapon, Simms popped out of his hiding place behind the rescuer and in front of Sarah. He took two shots which hit the man square in the back, forcing him to stumble forward away from the safety of the pillar and into incoming fire. Sarah watched in horror as five more shots caught the man in the chest before he could hide, tossing him onto his back on the floor. She took her weapon and shot at Simms, catching him in the shoulder and the neck. Sarah could see the look of surprise on his face as he turned and fell to the ground.

Sarah looked up to see what happened and held her breath as she saw him lay motionless on the floor. But just as quickly, he pulled out two semi-automatic pistols from the holsters on his chest and proceeded to fire at some agents who came out of hiding to check on him. Sarah turned around and followed Carina, satisfied that he would make it out on his own. _Bulletproof vest, I should've known that you would've come prepared._

Standing up quickly, he ran towards the southwest exit and locked the door behind him. Shouting at Sarah and Carina, "Go now!"

As they ran towards the next building, they quickly discovered the parked car and gingerly placed the still knocked out Casey into the back seat.

Sarah put the car into gear and sped off in the direction of the main street.

Seeing that they were safely away, the rescuer pulled out a transmitter and flipped up the switch to arm the devices he placed earlier. He quickly depressed the little red button and instantly a series of explosions rocked the surrounding area. Carina turned and looked out her window in time to see the second floor of the warehouse they were just in collapse onto the first, totally leveling the building.

Pulling out his cell phone, the rescuer pressed a number on his speed dial and said "It's done, you can send in the cleaners."

"Yes, sir. I believe that was most of the command group of Fulcrum. They should be easier to handle now."

"Casey is a little worse for wear, but all three are fine."

"He's good as well, I picked him up yesterday."

"Thank you sir. Good day."

He closed the cell phone and walked over to his motorcycle hidden behind the trash bin. _Now comes the hard part._


	5. Chapter 5: Help

Sarah looked at her watch. _3 o'clock? Fulcrum had us there for that long? _She had been driving down I-15 for the last hour and a half and was now approaching the San Diego county line. The events of the last several hours replayed in her mind: going to visit Chuck's grave, getting caught and held captive by Fulcrum, and Bryce saving them.

"Do you have any idea where Bryce is sending us?" asked Carina who was waking from a nap.

"I'm guessing one of his safe houses. I heard he has several across the country."

"What a show off." Carina paused to think for a second. Seemingly out of the blue, she asked "So Sarah, have you thought of getting out of the business? I mean, after what happened today no one would blame you."

Thinking for a bit, Sarah's face saddened, "At one time I did. When Chuck was alive, I kind of felt like I could give it up for him."

"And what's stopping you now?"

"Work is the only thing keeping me from breaking down. It was the one thing I had to hold me up before I met Chuck. Then when I got close to him, he sort of replaced it. But now with him gone, it's all I have."

"Not really, I know you have his sister and brother in law. I'm sure they would help you."

"I know and I love them for it. But Chuck was different; he knew my background but still accepted me. I'm too scared now to reveal that side of me to them."

"That's too bad."

Before Sarah could sigh her cellphone alerted the receipt of a text message. She opened it up and all it said was "Follow me." She looked up to see a man in a black leather jacket riding on a black motorcycle. He waved to them and proceeded to pull in front of the car.

"Our escort is here" joked Carina.

They followed the motorcycle off the freeway and towards some vineyards in Temecula. After 15 minutes of driving towards the east, they pulled up to a large ranch-style home with lines of grapes covering the front and backyards.

"Bryce must've watched the Bachelor and got jealous of Andrew Firestone" laughed Carina as she took in the view of the vineyard.

The man jumped off his motorcycle and motioned for them to park their vehicle in the nearby shed. He opened up the back door to the house and proceeded to help Casey into the living room. After placing him down to rest on the sofa, the man quickly took off and closed the door behind him.

"Is it me or is Bryce acting shy? Look he didn't even take off his helmet?" asked Carina.

"I know. I'm guessing the fact that he had an entire agency hunting him down probably has him on edge."

"Would you guys mind keeping it down? If you didn't notice, I'm trying to recuperate here" said Casey as he struggled to sit up.

Carina smiled. "Wow Casey, the last time I saw you sleep that deeply I was handcuffing you to the headboard." She and Sarah laughed.

"Ha ha. Mind telling me where we are and what happened to our attackers?"

"We're at Bryce's safe house. He came in and took them out. You would've liked it; he blew up a whole building and dropped it on the bad guys' heads" replied Carina.

Just then the door opened up and Bryce came in, eating a ice cream pop. "Hey guys, its been a while." Looking over to the man lying on the couch, "Whoa Casey, what did I tell you about blocking punches with you face? Use your hands next time." Bryce laughed and pulled up a chair to sit in front of the trio.

"You're lucky that I owe you one" snarled Casey.

"Yeah, Bryce. Thanks for the assist back there. I don't think we could've gotten out without some significant damage" added Carina.

Still eating his ice cream Bryce asked "What did I do again?"

"Saving us earlier from the Fulcrum agents" said Sarah. "You know in the warehouse outside of L.A.?"

Bryce replied "Sorry to tell you guys. But I've been here for the past 2 days. I haven't left the property at all."

"So then who saved us?"

A confused look came over Bryce's face. Stumbling for words, he said "Well, that's going to be hard to explain. Well not hard for me but you might want to sit down Sarah."

"Why do I need to sit down? Who could it be..." Sarah froze before she could finish her sentence because just then a thought crossed her mind that she never had before. She thought she had considered all the possibilities after the incident, but now she realized she missed an important one. "No...it's not possible" she whimpered. "It couldn't be."

Carina, concerned, asked "What? Do you know who it is Sarah?"

Sarah turned to face them but the words wouldn't come out. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the look of total shock come over her comrades' faces as their rescuer walked in. She looked up to see Carina with her jaw almost hitting the ground motioning her to turn around. As she did, Sarah came face to face with a tall, brown haired, brown eyed man.

As her face turned stark white, all Sarah could do was whisper, "Chuck?"

For the next several moments, all everyone could do was just stare at the man who they had thought died a year ago. Noticing the lack of activity, Bryce was the first one to speak up. "Hey Chuck. I hope you don't mind, I stole one of your ice cream pops."

Chuck nodded his approval, seemingly not wanting to waste his first words on ice cream. Turning to the blonde woman in front of him, "Hey Sarah."

As soon as she heard his voice, Sarah quickly moved to embrace her once-lost lover. She squeezed as tight as she could and didn't think of letting go, as if to see if he was really there and not a figment of her imagination. Then she suddenly felt something she thought she would never feel again; the warmth and comfort of Chuck's arms capturing her. Sarah had longed to feel his embrace again and with it the feeling of completeness and contentment. At this moment, she relived the happier days before all this happened. Those times when she and Chuck would just enjoy one another's company and waste the day away talking and flirting. The times when he would take her to the beach to watch the sunset and she would lean back into his arms. It was almost like he never had left.

But just as she was being overwhelmed with a sense of happiness, she realized what Chuck must've done and a seed of anger started to grow within her. She remembered the events of the past year; all of them filled with sorrow and pain. She recalled the tears that she shed over losing the love of her life, having to console Ellie who believed that she lost her only brother, watching Morgan as he broke down over the lost of his best friend; all of it filled with hurt and sadness. The anger that was brewing within her started to move; slowly it found its way up her shoulder, down her arm, and into her right hand.

Pushing off from his embrace, Sarah swung her right hand with all her might which found its mark on Chuck's face. The tremendous sound of the impact did not do justice to the actual power behind it. Chuck's head quickly snapped to the right and he was forced to take a step back. Carina gasped and Casey winced as they witnessed the strike.

Sarah stormed around Chuck, who still had his head in the same position, and left the room. Chuck turned around as if to follow but stopped when Carina told him let her go.

"Give her some time Chuck. This is kind of a shock to all of us, especially her. Although she never fully accepted you were gone, she lived this whole year knowing she wouldn't see your face again." Carina stood up from her place next to Casey and gave Chuck a hug. "It's really good to see you again."

"Thanks Carina, I'm glad you guys are ok."

Chuck walked over to the couch next to where Casey was standing. Looking at the ground, Chuck said "Feel free to take a swing. It's the very least I deserve for what I've done."

Casey looked at him stone-faced and much to Chuck's surprise, he hugged him. "Welcome back Bartowski."

Chuck just stood there with a stunned look on his face. "Ok, good job Casey on freaking me out" said Chuck with a weirded out look. "Now, let me see to your injuries."

Several minutes went by and Chuck was tending to Casey's wounds when Sarah came back into the room. Chuck noticed she looked much calmer but now had a stern look on her face, not that he could see it clearly. Sarah sat on the arm of the chair facing away from him. Everyone waited for what was going to happen next. "Explain" Sarah said.

Chuck looked up, "Where should I start?"

Carina raised her hand and replied "I know. How about telling us how you turned into Jason Bourne?"

He let out a little chuckle, "I see, the easy one first. It happened during my last Intersect upload. There was a glitch with the upload but the technician explained that everything was fine. He said that there just seemed to be an extra one percent of data uploaded that wasn't accounted for."

Chuck paused and looked around the room to make sure everyone was following. "Actually that extra data turned out to be the training material for the CIA, FBI, NSA, even the United States military. I didn't realize it until later, but I received years of training in one upload."

"So just like that you were became an expert marksman?" asked Casey. Chuck raised an eyebrow. "I saw the files on the recent Fulcrum member deaths. It seems your favorite method was death by sniping."

"Well, I didn't become an expert overnight; I had trained for a month on my own on a piece of land outside of San Diego. As for the sniping, it helped me sleep better when I was farther away from the actual death."

Bryce was extremely curious. "So what are your offensive capabilities Chuck?"

"That's a tough one. I'm extremely proficient with both handguns and rifles, which you probably already figured out. I can hold my own in hand to hand situations. I'm also a demolitions expert but that was obvious as well since I just blew up the rest of Fulcrum. I'm well versed in military tactics as well as guerilla warfare."

Bryce nodded his head.

Chuck continued. "I'm also trained in various stealth and human manipulation techniques, just like all agents are. Basically I'd fit in as either a CIA agent or as part of the military's more clandestine Special Forces unit."

Casey and Carina both looked to be impressed by Chuck's admission.

Sarah still had her agent-face on and coldly asked "So what made you decide to deceive us and fake your death?"

Chuck paused to collect his thoughts. "Sorry, I didn't think I was going to have to explain this to you guys. I thought I would just end it without anyone knowing." Sarah winced.

"It was the flash I saw later in the week. I saw a search and destroy mission issued by Fulcrum. It centered on me."

Sarah turned and was now staring straight into his direction. "So you faked your death so they wouldn't get to you?"

"No, you don't understand. If it was only me, then I would've walked myself straight into a bunker. This mission was a search and destroy mission not only against me but also everyone around me." He looked around the room. "It was a kill order...for you Sarah, Ellie, Casey, Devon, Morgan, everyone who was in or had contact with me. Even Carina and Bryce."

Sarah's face softened a bit. "What do you mean?"

"It was their last ditch effort. They didn't know where the Intersect was but they did know that I somehow was connected to it. Since they couldn't get their hands on the data, they decided that it was best that no one have that information. So this plan was to make sure that no one could get to the Intersect and to make sure no one was left alive who knew about it."

Casey finally spoke, "And how does that have to do with you pretending to die?"

"Well the first part of their plan was to capture me and torture me to figure out where the Intersect was. If I didn't reveal it, they would go ahead and eliminate me and everyone connected to me. So that was the situation left me; either I crack and reveal the location of the Intersect, saving all of you at the expense of the country or I hold my ground and save the United States at the expense of your lives. So I took the coward's way out and chose neither."

To ease everyone's confusion, Chuck continued. "That same upload revealed to me that Fulcrum worked more as individual cells which took orders from a higher command structure. Each cell did not share information with the other except through the command group. If it looked like my death was an assassination, they would figure that one of the cells decided to act and they would leave it at that. You guys would be safe until I got a chance to weaken them a bit."

Everyone was left speechless. Chuck had basically explained that he gave his life for theirs and he didn't even blink or pause when he said it. He had said it to them as easily as someone who said that they were lending the other money.

Curious, Bryce asked "One thing though. The data in your head should've been expired a long time ago, yet you were able to figure out Fulcrum's more recent movements. Where did you get your uploads?"

"You're right Bryce, the data in my head would've been obsolete a long time ago if it wasn't for my only contact within the agency. Director Graham."

Sarah ground her teeth; her boss knew this whole time that Chuck was alive and didn't tell her? He said that he trusted her more than anyone and even promoted her to have someone he trusted nearby. On top of that he was supplying information to her love that could've sent him to his death. The anger that she had released before suddenly came back until she heard his voice.

"Don't be mad at him Sarah" said Chuck as he looked in his direction. "I came to him after I faked my death. He advised me to let you and Casey know what I've done but I figured it was better this way and asked him to say nothing. So every month I receive one email from him with the new information already encoded into subliminal images. All I needed to do was watch the slideshow. The rest of it you basically know now."

Chuck looked at the tired band of people. "I can see that it was a lot to take in and you all must be tired. There are enough rooms for each of you here. Also don't worry, I've taken precautions against unwanted visitors. Let's say no one can exit the freeway without me knowing it. But I doubt anyone will come; that last rescue mission basically depleted Fulcrum resources and command group."

With that, Chuck exited and left everyone in the room to their own thoughts. Slowly each one left, intending to get some much needed rest in their own private rooms.

As Carina was leaving, she stopped next to Sarah. "Go to him and ask."

Sarah looked up. "What?"

"I know you Sarah. There's something you want to ask him and its going to eat at you until you hear what you want to hear."

Sarah slowly nodded her head.

"Good then. I'll see you later. A girl needs her beauty sleep."

Sarah walked around the large home and found Chuck in the dining room, facing the windows overlooking a portion of the vineyards. She was stunned at the sight; not at the vines lit by the moonlight but the silhouette of a man that she didn't think she would ever see again.

"Go ahead and ask."

Sarah's eyes shot up. She didn't even know he knew she was there.

"Go ahead and ask. I'll answer it the best I can."

Sarah took a moment to build up the strength to get out what she needed to. "Why did you leave me behind?" she asked with tears in her eyes. "Why didn't you take me with you?"

Chuck grimaced. He knew that this question would come up and he thought he'd be able to handle hearing it, but still it hurt him to the core. "I couldn't Sarah. I knew what I was going to do and how dangerous it would be. I didn't want to see you get hurt."

Sarah looked unsatisfied with the answer. "That's bullshit Chuck and you know it. You know I have more experience than you so don't lie to me and tell me you wanted to keep me safe." Sarah's sadness that she started with was now becoming anger and her normally soft voice was now screams. "I know the reason why. It's the reason why Bryce abandoned me before and it's the same reason why you left me the same way. You don't trust me."

Sarah's statement cut Chuck to the core. Of all the things he wanted her to know, the most important one was to know that he trusted her with his life. But now he realized that he committed the same heinous act that Bryce did before he sent him the email with the Intersect. Chuck knew he had to rectify this and make things clear to Sarah. "You're right Sarah, I was lying. But I didn't leave you there because I didn't trust you. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel that I didn't trust you. I left you behind because..." Chuck's voice grew softer. "...I didn't want you to watch."

Sarah, now even angrier, shouted "Watch? Watch what?"

Chuck looked down, unable to face her while he answered. "I didn't want you there to watch...watch the moment I turned into a killer."

Instantly Sarah's anger dissipated. She did not expect that answer to come from his mouth and now she was left without words.

"I wanted to leave you remembering me as I was before, not as this ruthless assassin I've become." Chuck put his head into his hands. "I didn't know how hard it was for agents to do what they do. Bryce was right; I'm not cut out for this life."

"Chuck, I'm so sor.."

"Don't worry Sarah. I have one final thing left to do and then everything will be right. For now you should get some rest."

Sarah laid in her bed staring at the ceiling. Something about Chuck's words haunted her. She thought he was done with the attack against Fulcrum after that last mission but he said that he had one thing left to do. He also said that he didn't think he would have to explain this. He thought it would end without anyone knowing. Then it hit her.

She jumped up from her bed and rushed to Chuck's bedroom but found no one there. She went downstairs and still did not find him. By chance she looked out the window and saw a figure moving towards the barn in the back of the property.

Running into the barn she was stopped immediately by what she saw: She gasped as she saw Chuck sitting on a bench, holding a gun to the side of his head.

"Chuck! Stop, what are you doing?" screamed Sarah.

Without turning to face her, Chuck said "Please Sarah, turn around and go back into the house."

"No Chuck, not till you tell me why you doing this" said Sarah as she inched closer to him.

"I'm begging you Sarah just forget what you saw here and go back inside" Chuck pleaded.

"Chuck, I can't do that. Talk to me please. It's one of the things that we were good at before." Sarah's voice softened. "I'll listen."

Shaking his head, "I can't take it Sarah. All the people I've killed, I see their faces every night and every day. My damned memory won't let me forget."

Sarah couldn't stop from crying. "Chuck, you did what had to be done. If they didn't die, other innocent people would have."

Chuck started to cry. "I know, for the greater good. But the greater good means nothing to the families that are suffering because I took someone they cared for away. They didn't know they were bad guys; to them they were fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters."

He looked over to Sarah. "You know what the turning point was? It was probably my 10th mission. All I had to do was snipe a target who had been leaking information to Fulcrum. A simple plan against a bad man. The thing that shocked me the most was that after I was done, I felt happy and full of pride over his death. Pride over the death of another human being. That's when I told myself that once I was done with Fulcrum that I would end it and get some peace."

Sarah had made her way around the bench and was now facing Chuck. She was surprised to see the dull, lifeless eyes which used to have so much life in them before. But still something about his eyes haunted her, then she remembered. Those eyes were the same as her eyes before she met Chuck. Before, when all that mattered was whether the mission was successful or not and when she didn't care about other's feelings. But that had changed after she met Chuck. "You can still be the man I know Chuck, trust me" said Sarah, hoping that he could hear the total honesty in her voice.

"I can't, Sarah. How can I go on living with all these demons?"

Sarah knelt onto the dirt floor of the barn. "I know you can."

"How? How can you know that I live with what I've done?"

Looking into his eyes, Sarah confessed "Because I did."

Shocked, Chuck looked into Sarah's eyes and was immediately comforted by her loving gaze.

"You know how I know? Because the way you are now was the way I was before I met you." Sarah gazed downwards. "I had lived for the thrill of the mission and all that was important was whether I was successful or not. On the outside, I was the perfect CIA agent. But inside, I was being eaten away to the point that all that would be left was an empty shell. I thought I had reached the same point as you are now, where a bullet would be my only way out" she said trying to stop the tears. "That was until I received a mission to guard a certain nerd with government secrets stuck in his head."

She looked up to see Chuck forming a bit of a smile.

"He helped me see that there was more to life than what I was doing. He, you made me want a normal life that I didn't think I could have."

Sarah moved closer to Chuck and put her hand on the gun that was aimed at his head. "Please Chuck, let me help you like you helped me. I'm not promising that I can fix everything but I know that I'll spend the rest of my life helping you deal with your actions."

Hearing her admission, Chuck relented and dropped the gun down to his side. He reached out and took Sarah into his arms. Sarah could feel him sobbing uncontrollably as all the emotions he had repressed started to release.

"Don't worry Chuck; we'll get through this together."

* * *

_A/N: Ok, one more chapter. Hoped you enjoyed it._


	6. Chapter 6: In her own words

My face can't contain the smile forming watching my husband play with our two kids: David Ethan, 4 and Elizabeth Eleanor, 2. Today is his birthday and we decided to have the party in our backyard. David decided that his goal for the afternoon is to tackle his father and Eliza is watching and laughing at the comical scene. Looking around I can't help but feel happy and fulfilled; all of our friends are here and everyone is enjoying themselves.

It still scares me that only 7 years ago I thought I would never have a happy life again. That was when my husband, Chuck, decided to take on Fulcrum alone and went rogue by faking his own death. A year after he had completed his task; Chuck had decimated Fulcrum's command structure and left the rogue organization directionless. The CIA and NSA took over and made quick work of the remaining cells.

But the victory did not come without heavy damage; Chuck was never made to handle the stresses of a CIA field agent, let alone the stresses of an agent deep undercover. Just after I found out that Chuck was alive, he attempted suicide in order to rid himself of the demons that plagued him. But I was able to bring him back from the brink and I promised him that I would spend my life helping him change back to the man I knew before. I didn't know at the time how deeply the year he spent underground had affected him.

* * *

Chuck spent several weeks after the final mission receiving therapy. I wasn't allowed into the sessions but talking with him afterwards, it was mostly centered on feelings of paranoia and of guilt over the deaths. After the therapy was over, Chuck was released from the hospital and came home with me.

We moved in together into my Washington D.C. apartment since to the rest of the world, Chuck Bartowski was dead. The first few days were rough on him. No matter where we went, he always looked over his shoulder. He believed that every passing car could be carrying enemy agents. All I could do was just hold his hand and support him.

The most disturbing incident was our first night together. We had gone to sleep together, which surprisingly he had no aversion to, but I woke up in the middle of the night and found his side of the bed empty. I panicked and looked around the apartment and I finally found him huddled in the corner asleep. I realized that during his time underground he would be under constant fear of being caught so he slept in a position ready to fend off any attacks. I couldn't help but cry at what he sacrificed for everyone else's safety and the pain he was willing to endure for us. That night and several afterwards we slept in the corner together, prepared to fend off any demons.

After a few months things were looking better. There were still some bumps in the road but Chuck seemed to be more like who I remembered and there were moments that I could've sworn he never changed. One of those moments was when I decided to tell Chuck my real name. We had just finished dinner and decided to take a walk to a bench facing the Washington National Monument.

"Chuck" I said. "There's something important I want to tell you."

"Yeah, ok."

"My name is Serafina. Serafina Lisa Andrews." I looked at him closely, concerned at what his reaction would be. It was going to be one of the things I was going to tell him before the whole incident took place.

"Really? Serafina? That's where you got Sarah from?"

"Yes. My parents were sort of stuck in the 70s and they..." I wasn't even able to finish my sentence when Chuck burst out into laughter. "What? Are you laughing at my name?"

Chuck nodded. He was trying his hardest not to fall off the bench.

"That's nice Chuck, I open myself up to you and trust you with my real name and this is how you respond." I turned away from him to show my annoyance, although part of me was glad to hear him laughing.

"No no Serafina, I mean Sarah. I remembered that you gave me crap about being 'Chuck' and here you are as a 'Serafina.'" He took a deep breath in. "Quite a pair we make, Chuck and Serafina."

My heart melted when I saw him smile. It was that same old smile. That darned smile that gets him out of trouble and me out of my clothes.

"Ok fine, now that you had your laughs we need to discuss something."

"Ok, what is it?"

"You need a new name. Charles Bartowski is unfortunately no more."

"I know and I've been thinking about it. Is it possible to become Carmichael?"

"I guess so. Why that name?"

"I don't know. I guess I liked it because I used it whenever we went on missions together."

"I'll get Graham to make the arrangements, Mr. Charles Carmichael."

I look over and see Chuck fiddling with his hands and a worried look came over his face. "What's wrong Chuck?"

He had taken a deep breath to try to calm himself down. "Well, umm...I was wondering if you would like to be a Carmichael too." Chuck pulled out a small box and presented it to me.

My mouth dropped instantly; I knew what he was asking but the words wouldn't come out. "Are you asking me to ...?"

"It's ok if you don't want me..."

I put my hand over his mouth to stop the sentence from completing. "Of course I want you, Chuck. I'll be forever happy as a Carmichael." With that I took the ring out and placed it on my finger. A perfect fit. I look up and saw my fiancée smiling back.

"If it's ok with you, I'd like to have a longer engagement. There are still some things I need to work out with the agency."

"Of course. I'd wait forever for you." Chuck's smile never left his face for the rest of the day.

Although I did have to work things out with the CIA regarding my retirement, that was already in the works. I needed the time in order to right a wrong in Chuck's life. Before we got married, I needed to get his family back to him.

* * *

Director Graham had done a lot for Chuck after he completed his self appointed task. He had gotten Chuck all the back pay he was due as well as bonuses, which actually turned out to be quite a large sum. He also pulled some strings and gave Chuck the opportunity to start up a new business, specializing in securing company networks.

As for the Intersect, there was no way to pull out the data but CIA researchers were able to subliminally encode data that would prevent the Intersect from functioning in Chuck's mind. The one thing that couldn't be fixed was the training Chuck received. He had already assimilated that information and it wasn't part of the Intersect anymore.

After a long debate about involving civilians in agency matters, I was finally able to convince Graham to allow Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and Anna visitation. They would of course have to meet up with an agency contact before proceeding but it would allow them to come over to our place in D.C. and spend time with Chuck. The process of letting them know would be a difficult one and I decided that I would leave Chuck out of it for the moment.

* * *

It had been a few months since I saw them last, but everyone still welcomed me. I made sure that all four of them would be there at the same time because I didn't think that I could say this again.

I explained to them, without much details of course, how Chuck became an asset for the CIA, how Casey and I were sent to protect him, and how he and I fell in love despite regulations otherwise. I waited for their reactions, to see if what I feared the most would happen: their rejection of me and my expulsion from the family. But I was surprised when Ellie came over and hugged me, telling me that being part of a family means that things are forgiven.

There was still one part I needed to tell them; Chuck was alive.

"There's something else that you guys need to know" I said with my voice cracking.

"You're not going to tell us you're a man right? Cause if you are, you're doctor is awesome!" replied Devon.

"No, it's something a bit more serious."

"Go ahead Sarah, I'm sure there's nothing you can say that could shock us anymore" said Morgan.

Little did Morgan know that there was a lot more I could say to shock them more. "Ok, here goes." I take a deep breath. "Chuck is not dead." I scanned the room and saw the most confused 4 people in the world. "Chuck is very much alive."

Ellie was close to tears. "He's ok? How? Why? What happened to him?"

I wanted to explain it all to her but I knew it would be better for Chuck to explain the details. "Let's just say that Chuck had to fake his death in order to protect everyone. No one knew what he was doing, not even us. The mission he went on took a toll on him though. These past few months were spent on helping him get better."

The first thing out of Ellie's mouth was when they could go see him. I replied "We can set it up for next weekend."

* * *

The day of Chuck's family's arrival was a scary one for me. I kept their meeting a surprise for Chuck since I had reservations about how Chuck would react. I didn't know whether he would welcome them or hide from them out of shame. My fears were assuaged the moment Chuck opened the door.

"Hey little brother" Ellie said.

There were a few tense moments until Chuck opened up his arms and the two siblings engaged in a long hug.

"How?" Chuck asked.

"It was Sarah's doing. She came to see us last week and explained all that happened and all that you did for us."

Out from the back of the pack ran Morgan who came up from behind and carried Chuck. "Chuck, it's been so boring with you."

"Morgan, my little bearded friend. Please tell me you got out of Buymore."

"Of course Chuck. After I thought I lost you, Sarah and everyone helped me move on and make something of my life. I went back to school and I'm almost done with a degree in web design. I'm working designing company web pages."

I could see tears forming in Chuck's eyes. "Good job buddy. I knew you had it in you."

"Hey Chuck, you're looking kind of buff there. I think I might have some competition in the iron man this year" Devon stated.

"We'll see. We might have to put money down."

"Can we come inside or are you keeping us out here forever Chuck?" asked Ellie.

* * *

Our marriage the next year was a simple one. We decided to fly everyone to Costa Rica and have the ceremony on the beach. It included Ellie as my maid of honor, Devon, Morgan as Chuck's best man, Anna, Casey, and Carina. Carina was a given, but we were amazed at Casey's acceptance. "I'm just here to make sure Chuck doesn't screw up" Casey said.

Chuck had invited Bryce as well but was disappointed to find that he was already assigned to a new mission. We did get a postcard with two sentences written on it. It had read "Congratulations C and S! P.S. CB, you always did get the best girls."

Planning for kids didn't start until the next year. Chuck said that he wanted to keep me for himself for a while and I had to admit I wanted him to myself too.

Since I had retired from the agency, Chuck and I expanded his computer securities firm to now offer private security as well. I took care of the private security part and Chuck took care of the computer related stuff. Chuck also had found out that Casey was out of the spy game and offered him a job within the firm, which surprisingly he accepted. It still amazes me now how close of friends Chuck and Casey are. Not Morgan-close, but you can tell they enjoy each other's company. Probably has to do with both having tortured souls at one point.

The first of our two kids arrived two years after we were married. The first, David Ethan, was named after Chuck's father and my father. The second one, Elizabeth Eleanor, was named after my middle name and Chuck's sister. Chuck had on insisted on Serafina, but after I physically persuaded him, he agreed on Elizabeth. Ellie and Devon made it a point to visit us in Washington every month. She said that she wanted to make sure her kids knew who their cousins were. On their last visit, Ellie pulled me aside and whispered in my ear, "See? I knew you were going to be a great sister."

* * *

I smile as I take in the view again of the party. It's Casey's turn to get tackled by the kids; Morgan and Anna are showing off her engagement ring; Devon and Ellie are off cooking.

The irony of the past several years is not lost on me. I was the cold hearted spy who was rescued and taught how to live again by a nerdy computer repair man. Then I ended up rescuing him as well. Funny how things come about.

Suddenly two arms wrap around me and I know exactly who they belong to. These arms belong to the man who took on the world to save me and in turn I saved him right back.

"Hey Chuck."

"Hey Sarah."

* * *

_A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed it as I did writing it. I'm sorry about the weird chapter lengths; I'm still working on getting a proper flow to my stories._


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